n
reigns. Economic bewilderment appears to be the hallmark of
2008. Banks don’t seem to know what to do; politicians offer
stimulus packages that don’t stimulate; and everywhere
financial planners and advisors proclaim that “it will get
better” while each passing week gets worse. And at the gut
level everyone knows that if the markets completely unravel,
if currencies shatter in the confusion, a brutal monster –
Chaos – will appear from under the bed and run rampant while
the financial house burns.

Watching the markets and thinking through the
possibilities, two interlocking phrases immediately come to mind: Ordo
ab Chaos, and Crisis Equals Opportunity. Ordo ab Chao is a
Latin phrase and the motto of the Thirty-Third Degree of Freemasonry.[1] It
means, “Order out of Chaos.”

This expression portrays a simple message.
Out of the chaos of extreme crisis comes a time when everything is re-made,
and order is restored. But you must understand; just because order has been
established, it doesn’t mean that the world is the same as it was before
the catastrophe. It won’t be; it can’t be.

For those who have lost a home to fire, you
know that eventually organization returns to your life. However, you also
know that your world has been changed forever; it’s not as it was before
that fateful day. Likewise, as our smoldering, global financial house
catches flame (in my estimation it’s only in the beginning stages), a new
edifice will be introduced after the conflagration is over. But it won’t be
the same structure.

Something else must be considered: the house
doesn’t have to be utterly razed. At some point during the fire, the house
could be closed-up for a short time. Then, while the world waits with abated
breath, a new building would be unveiled from behind the smoke. In our
desire for safety the world would abandon the old house and flee to the new,
safer looking structure.

Is this possible? Remember, Crisis Equals
Opportunity, and Order will arise after Chaos.

Without doubt this economic crisis – and the
chaos that follows – will present individuals and organizations
opportunities that would never otherwise be pursued during times of
normality. It’s hard to not to expect anything different. After all, the
firemen who are now trying to douse the flames are the same people who
started the fire.

The manipulation of calamities, be
they natural or man-made, to re-make a society or nation isn’t new.
Such actions can be traced back to Biblical times.

Before I go on, I would be remiss not to make
note of the following: I recognize that for many, the Biblical character I
will be using as an example has often been viewed as a person who did little
wrong. Indeed, he has historically been acknowledged as a laudable figure,
and to some, a foreshadow of the Messiah. But two facts need to be
considered. First, the Bible doesn’t condone or condemn this individual’s
tactics; it just describes the situation as it happened. Second, the
individual in question was human in every way. That is, he did things in his
life that were praiseworthy and profane, benevolent and dubious.

How do I know that, seeing that the Bible
never directly mentions any of his failings? Simple; he was a man.

Joseph, the hero of the last section of
Genesis, provides a remarkable example of the use of “crisis economics” to
change an entire nation. Interestingly, Bible students have long overlooked
his political tactics of currency leveraging – an instrument used to alter a
culture while consolidating wealth into the hands of the ruling elite. As
this is the oldest example I have found regarding monetary manipulation for
the gaining of power, I’ve dubbed this “The Joseph Principle.”

Note from
Berit: As Carl Teichrib shows us, Joseph's action in the
midst of a God-given crisis is an amazing illustration of
what is happening today. I believe that God (almost four
millennia ago) led his faithful servant Joseph to make
choices that our all-wise Lord
would use to accomplish His ultimate purpose: bringing the
Israelites to Egypt and establishing them for the next few
centuries in an area where they had little freedom to mingle
with the Egyptians and worship their idols. Protected from
cultural assimilation, they were taught God's Truth and
developed their identity as His special people.

God still reigns today, even as we move toward increasing
global control. He didn't promise to make life easy for us,
but He has promised to be our
Lord and
Shepherd, our
fortress and our
strength in the midst of it all!

In Genesis 47, Joseph, second in command to
Egypt’s Pharaoh and warned of a coming famine, had prepared stock piles of
grain to aid the people through the crisis. When the famine hit the land,
the people came to Joseph to buy food stock. A simple transaction was made;
the citizens used the national currency to purchase grain.

In verses 14 and 15 we find an unusual
development. After the grain was purchased, Joseph intentionally holds the
money back, keeping it from being re-circulated into the local economy. The
result is predictably catastrophic for the people: Economic crisis.

According to the King James Version, “the
money failed” (vs.15),
and in the New International Version it says that the “money is used up.”
Egypt experienced intentional, government-sponsored deflation in the midst
of a natural calamity. The money collapsed.

Needing to eat, what did the citizens do?
They brought Joseph their livestock in exchange for grain (vs.16-17). As an
agrarian society, livestock represented the industrial basis of the people.
Hence, placing this power in the hands of the government, the people’s
commercial activity was effectively abolished.

In relating this series of events to others,
some have asked me; “Why didn’t the people just eat the animals instead of
trading them for grain?”

Refrigeration didn’t exist. And while the
people could have dried some of the meat for long-term use, grain would have
been the most valuable and stable food source during a drought. Now the
people had neither money nor livestock; and a year later they were out of
food.

Returning to Joseph, who obviously was in
charge of the storehouses, the people begged their leader to take their land
and themselves in trade for food (vs.18-19). Property was therefore
consolidated under the state, and the citizens literally became slaves in
their own country (vs.20-21).
In the King James Version the language goes even further: Joseph
de-populates the rural areas and moves the people into the cities.

This is a masterful population control
strategy.

Once the wealth of the nation had been
consolidated under the Pharaoh’s banner via Joseph’s actions – monetary
wealth, the industrial base, land and productivity, and the people as
economic assets – then Joseph instituted a new farming and taxation system (vs.20-24).
How did the people respond? They gladly relinquished control of their
wealth, property, and themselves (gave up their freedom) for the promise of
state-dictated security.

Keep in mind; all of this started through a
debasing of the currency system. The manipulation of money is, arguably, the
most potent method – outside of war – used to rearrange the fabric of
society.

Am I suggesting that our current crisis
will be used as leverage to re-structure our Western world? The odds are
in favor of it. Consider what the father of modern economics, John Maynard
Keynes, had to say in 1919.

“There is no subtler, no surer means of
overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency.”
– John Maynard Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace,(1919),
p.236.

Keynes economic model is what we have been
using since the end of World War II. Roughly speaking, it’s the idea that
governments can stimulate the economy through interest rate management – the
heart of credit and debt – taxation programs, and other state-instituted
incentive programs. Although the above quote was aimed primarily at
inflationary actions, the same conclusion could be made regarding
deflationary leveraging.

Three other quotes come to mind,

“The great struggle of history has been
for the control over money. It is almost tautological to affirm that
to control the production and distribution of money is to control the
wealth, resources, and people of the world.” – Jack Weatherford,
The History of Money (Crown Publishers, 1997), p.246.

“The control of money and credit strikes
at the very heart of national sovereignty.” – A.W. Clausen [then
president of Bank of America], in a 1979 interview with the Freeman
Digest, “International Banking,”
p.21.

During the mid-1970s a “new international
economic order”[2]
was proposed in light of growing energy costs, world currency imbalances,
and other shake-ups in the global economy. The objective of this movement –
which emanated from Algeria and found support through the Group of
Non-Aligned Countries[3]
– was to change the capitalist/Western-oriented world financial system into
a more socialist-styled model.

The Club of Rome, an
elite group of eminent leaders, also supported this effort. In 1976 it
fleshed out what this “new international economic order” would look like.
According to the Club, the world’s social, political, cultural, and
economic composition needed to be re-aligned under a sweeping system of
international management. This included the promotion of regional
monetary integration, the creation of a World Treasury agency, and
international taxation powers – all with the aim of progressing “towards a
world-wide monetary system.”[4]

How would citizens come to accept such
radical changes? The Club of Rome understood the historical mechanism
needed: Crisis.[5]

Although the “new international economic
order” fell apart due to national infighting between agenda-supporting
countries (among other factors), the principle of “economic crisis” and
“change” never went away. Flash forward one year past the famous 1987 stock
market crash.

On January 9, 1988, The Economist
published a cover story about a proposed international currency called the
Phoenix.Like the mythical firebird that arises out of the ashes of
destruction, this international currency would likewise emerge from the
chaos of crisis. As the article noted, it would take “several more
big exchange-rate upsets, a few more stockmarket crashes and probably a
slump or two” before politicians would accept the Phoenix and secede
monetary power to a higher authority. The Economist even suggested a
start-up date: 2018.[6]

Looking to curb government-led monetary
mismanagement, a problem that seems to plague every nation-state, the
article suggested a radical re-arrangement: Country-level decision
making, under the Phoenix, would disappear under a world central bank.

“There would be no such thing, for
instance, as a national monetary policy. The world phoenix supply would
be fixed by a new central bank, descended perhaps from the IMF. The
world inflation rate – and hence, within narrow margins, each national
inflation rate – would be in its charge. Each country could use taxes
and public spending to offset temporary falls in demand, but it would
have to borrow rather than print money to finance its budget deficit.
With no recourse to the inflation tax, governments and their creditors
would be forced to judge their borrowing and lending plans more
carefully than they do today. This means a big loss of economic
sovereignty, but the trends that make the phoenix so appealing are
taking that sovereignty away in any case.”[7]

More recently, Robert Mundell – the “father
of the euro” – has been traveling around the world lecturing on the
hoped-for creation of a new international currency called the DEY, a
combination of the US dollar, euro, and yen. Crisis,
Mundell realized, will open this door.

“International monetary reform usually
becomes possible only in response to a felt need and the threat of a
global crisis.”[8]

This Nobel Prize winner also pointed his
finger to the possible trigger event, saying that the “global crisis would
have to involve the dollar,” and that a world currency should be viewed as
“a contingency” to a global dollar disaster.[9]

And Benn Steil, the Director of International
Economics at the Council on Foreign Relations, suggested a re-making of the
world’s financial system around three key currencies – the US dollar, euro,
and a new Asian monetary unit. Steil implied that the hinge-point for this
development would be a major shake-up involving the US dollar.[10]

Crisis, in relation to regional and world
currencies, have been highlighted in two previous issues of Forcing
Change. But it needed to be reiterated here. Why? Because today, during
every news hour, we hear more talk of the global financial emergency.

And crisis equals opportunity.

Beyond the obvious, that wealth will be lost
and won on a daily basis during this calamity, some bigger picture aspects
need to be briefly considered.

1. Watch as regional and world currency
scenarios become increasingly acceptable. This will likely be more evident
in academic and narrowly-focused financial circles. However, you may see
these ideas surface in some newspaper editorials and other outlets. In fact,
as we draw closer to 2010, watch as the business media starts to focus on
the upcoming currency block now developing in the Persian Gulf region.

2. Suggestions to re-build the world’s
financial house. Actually, this is already happening. Consider the following
taken from a recent Bloomberg news release,

"As equities suffered their worst week
since the 1970s, Berlusconi said in Naples, Italy that markets may be
shut while policy
makers ’rewrite the rules of international finance.’

"The discussions were revealed as finance
ministers and central bankers from the Group of Seven nations sought a
united front aimed at thwarting the crisis. Among the options: Pumping
taxpayer funds into loss-ridden banks and guaranteeing lending between
them and their deposits.

"‘Doing nothing is not an option at this
stage,’ Bundesbank President Axel Weber told reporters in Washington.
French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde said ‘a coordinated basis is
the only way to react to the situation.’

"Unprecedented interest-rate cuts and
bank bailouts have failed to quell panic in markets, putting officials
under pressure to pull even more policy levers today or risk
exacerbating the financial and economic turmoil.

"‘The gravity of the current situation is
sinking into officials’ mindsets,’ said Charles Diebel, head of European
rates strategy at Nomura International Plc in London. ‘It’s time for the
kitchen sink, as in throw everything there is at the problem, and on
such a scale that the shock and awe will break the cycle of fear’.”[11]

Keep your eyes on Asia, especially China and
India, as well as South America and the Persian Gulf region. As wealth and
economic clout dries up in the North American markets, other parts of the
world with more vibrant populations will rise in power.
FC

A final word of
encouragement concerning Joseph
(Berit's addition). In the midst of today's rapid changes, God is
still in control. While this global crisis is likely to speed us
toward a pre-planned global solution --
a worldwide
economic system that allows
little freedom for dissenters -- God will use the
distressing times ahead for His eternal purposes, just as He
did with Joseph:

"

When
Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said,
'Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may actually repay us for
all the evil which we did to him.' So they sent messengers
to Joseph, saying, 'Before your father died he commanded,
saying, ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: 'I beg you, please
forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they
did evil to you.' ’Now, please, forgive the trespass of the
servants of the God of your father' And Joseph wept when
they spoke to him.
"Then his brothers also went and fell down before his
face, and they said, 'Behold, we are your servants.'
"Joseph said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for
am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against
me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as
it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore,
do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little
ones.' And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them." Genesis 50:15-21

Endnotes:1. Albert G. Mackey, An Encyclopædia of Freemasonry, Volume 2,
(Masonic History Company, 1917), p.537.2. Philip C. Bom, The Coming Century of Commonism: The Beauty and the
Beast of Global Governance (Policy Books, 1992), pp.27-53.3. See, Reshaping the International Order: A Report to the Club of Rome
(E.P. Dutton, 1976), p.4. The oil crisis and OPEC’s role in third-world
advocacy played a monumental part in setting the stage for this movement.
For more on this development, see Jean-Jacques Servan-Schreiber,The World Challenge (Simon and Schuster, 1980).4. Ibid, pp.126-134.5. Ibid, p.110.6. Cover story, “Get Ready for the Phoenix,” The Economist, January 9,
1988.7. Ibid.8. Robert Mundell, “A Decade Later: Asia New Responsibilities in the
International Monetary System,” presentation given in Seoul, South
Korea, May, 2-3, 2007.9. Ibid.10. Benn Steil, “The End of National Currency,” Foreign Affairs,
May/June 2007.11. “Berlusconi Says Markets May Be Shut; G-7 Seeks United Remedy,” Bloomberg.com, October 10, 2008.